WEBVTT 00:00:01.239 --> 00:00:04.500 Welcome to Journey from Jacob. From our first 00:00:04.500 --> 00:00:07.419 breath to our last heartbeat, we are all on a 00:00:07.419 --> 00:00:10.660 journey. Jacob was a biblical character whose 00:00:10.660 --> 00:00:14.140 journey is documented for our benefit. Like all 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:16.579 of us, there were unforgettable moments along 00:00:16.579 --> 00:00:20.359 the way which required decisiveness. One of those 00:00:20.359 --> 00:00:24.140 decisions determined his destination. We will 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:27.160 not only discuss Jacob's journey, but Israel's 00:00:27.160 --> 00:00:31.399 as well, right up to date. May this podcast inspire 00:00:31.399 --> 00:00:34.380 you to make choices along your way that will 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:37.359 benefit others and guide you to the destination 00:00:37.359 --> 00:01:00.140 we all long for. because we're in this together. 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:03.000 One of the challenges of the message of the Gospel 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:06.379 is to communicate what is spiritual in nature, 00:01:06.459 --> 00:01:08.900 but we live in this physical world, this natural 00:01:08.900 --> 00:01:12.560 world, and we cannot over -spiritualize things, 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:15.640 but the tendency is to ignore the spiritual because 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:17.680 it's a little bit more difficult to understand. 00:01:17.980 --> 00:01:20.439 In fact, it's impossible to understand if we're 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:23.019 not born again. The Bible says that very clearly. 00:01:23.209 --> 00:01:26.430 We need to be able to be spiritually reborn in 00:01:26.430 --> 00:01:29.569 order to understand spiritual things. But spiritual 00:01:29.569 --> 00:01:32.250 things can't be up in the sky somewhere. They 00:01:32.250 --> 00:01:34.510 have to be at street level. We have to take what 00:01:34.510 --> 00:01:36.790 we've learned and it has to be authentic enough 00:01:36.790 --> 00:01:39.069 that when we show up on the street, when we show 00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:41.450 up in conversations, when we talk or write or 00:01:41.450 --> 00:01:43.709 communicate, people could see that there's something 00:01:43.709 --> 00:01:46.370 attractive about it because we are, by nature, 00:01:46.810 --> 00:01:49.390 human beings are spiritual. And so we're made 00:01:49.390 --> 00:01:51.829 in the image of God. And that's where we really 00:01:51.829 --> 00:01:53.670 need to start, because that's where the story 00:01:53.670 --> 00:01:56.310 starts, in the garden. We don't know what happened 00:01:56.310 --> 00:01:59.129 before that, that speculation, but we're taught 00:01:59.129 --> 00:02:02.549 from God, through His prophets, apostles, and 00:02:02.549 --> 00:02:05.730 the writers of both Old and New Testament, we're 00:02:05.730 --> 00:02:08.250 taught things that are spiritual in nature, but 00:02:08.250 --> 00:02:10.789 they happen in real time, in real life, and it 00:02:10.789 --> 00:02:14.009 becomes our history, if we are believers, biblical 00:02:14.009 --> 00:02:17.990 history. So the spiritual element must be highlighted 00:02:17.990 --> 00:02:21.199 and understood. Because if it's not, we won't 00:02:21.199 --> 00:02:23.300 be able to comprehend what's going on in these 00:02:23.300 --> 00:02:25.620 challenging times that we live in. This is one 00:02:25.620 --> 00:02:28.719 of the highly charged portions of human history 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:30.900 that we're living in now. And I could give many 00:02:30.900 --> 00:02:33.139 reasons, but the Bible has given indications 00:02:33.139 --> 00:02:35.759 of what it would be like in the days preceding 00:02:35.759 --> 00:02:39.000 Jesus' return. And many of those things are clear 00:02:39.000 --> 00:02:42.240 marks of the culture and civilization that we 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.099 now live in, both in the West and the East, in 00:02:45.099 --> 00:02:48.330 fact. everywhere in the world has sense of understanding 00:02:48.330 --> 00:02:50.949 because we're so well communicated now. So we 00:02:50.949 --> 00:02:53.210 need to be careful how we communicate, but that 00:02:53.210 --> 00:02:56.349 doesn't mean that we should not attempt things 00:02:56.349 --> 00:02:59.150 that may be difficult to understand. And what 00:02:59.150 --> 00:03:01.909 I want to share today, I'm asking you to really 00:03:01.909 --> 00:03:03.889 give your complete attention to, because it's 00:03:03.889 --> 00:03:06.750 going to have some repetition to it maybe, but 00:03:06.750 --> 00:03:09.650 don't get tired of that, because we need to cement 00:03:09.650 --> 00:03:11.710 these. Certain things have to be cemented in 00:03:11.710 --> 00:03:14.889 as you would a cement block to a foundation. 00:03:15.069 --> 00:03:18.330 in order for us to build upon. So we don't want 00:03:18.330 --> 00:03:20.409 to be caught empty handed. When the times of 00:03:20.409 --> 00:03:22.590 troubling times come, which they will, Jesus 00:03:22.590 --> 00:03:25.509 promised it, in this world we will have troubles, 00:03:25.710 --> 00:03:28.189 we will have tribulation, but to be of good cheer 00:03:28.189 --> 00:03:30.330 because He has overcome the world and He has 00:03:30.330 --> 00:03:33.909 made His people overcomers. So if you're a Jew, 00:03:34.030 --> 00:03:36.250 if you're a Gentile, if you believe in Jesus 00:03:36.250 --> 00:03:39.270 as the Messiah, Yeshua, Hamashiach, then you're 00:03:39.270 --> 00:03:41.509 spiritually born from above and you're given 00:03:41.509 --> 00:03:44.900 this ability. to discern and to know if it's 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:46.900 right or not and dismiss those things that are 00:03:46.900 --> 00:03:49.900 not and embrace those things that are. So we 00:03:49.900 --> 00:03:52.240 don't want to retreat. This is one of the things 00:03:52.240 --> 00:03:55.219 I've discovered that because we have troubles 00:03:55.219 --> 00:03:57.479 in this world and that could be as small as, 00:03:57.479 --> 00:03:59.939 you know, you just dropped a plate and it broke 00:03:59.939 --> 00:04:02.280 on the ground and you say, oh man, that must 00:04:02.280 --> 00:04:05.159 be Satan. He's out to get me. Or you're confronted 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.639 with a terrible illness and a family member. 00:04:07.770 --> 00:04:10.389 And you're saying, well, is that Satan or not? 00:04:10.449 --> 00:04:12.969 And you want to be able to know what is next. 00:04:13.270 --> 00:04:15.610 What do you expect? Do you take authority over 00:04:15.610 --> 00:04:18.589 him? Or do you just live in this world that is 00:04:18.589 --> 00:04:20.610 broken? And we should expect certain things. 00:04:20.709 --> 00:04:22.750 We need to know the difference between what is 00:04:22.750 --> 00:04:25.360 spiritually of origin and what is just... part 00:04:25.360 --> 00:04:27.740 of a fallen world that we live in. And we will 00:04:27.740 --> 00:04:30.660 live without this frustration of trying to nail 00:04:30.660 --> 00:04:33.019 everything down so tight that we can understand 00:04:33.019 --> 00:04:35.959 it. Because one of the things that I repeat often 00:04:35.959 --> 00:04:39.620 from the Proverbs, actually this one's from Chapter 00:04:39.620 --> 00:04:48.160 4, it's, So it means, do not lean on your understanding. 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:50.939 First, trust in the Lord with all your heart 00:04:50.939 --> 00:04:54.069 and lean not on your own understanding. This 00:04:54.069 --> 00:04:57.629 is where we need to be able to live with things 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:00.949 we cannot understand, but trust God with all 00:05:00.949 --> 00:05:03.129 our hearts so that we can know that the outcome, 00:05:03.170 --> 00:05:05.930 whatever it is, in whatever part I have to play 00:05:05.930 --> 00:05:08.250 in it, God will show me and I'll be able to walk 00:05:08.250 --> 00:05:10.730 in it. So there's a chapter that we went from 00:05:10.730 --> 00:05:14.029 chapter 14 to chapter 15 last time. This is a 00:05:14.029 --> 00:05:17.129 spiritually charged moment of biblical history. 00:05:17.490 --> 00:05:19.709 Abraham came back from this war that was going 00:05:19.709 --> 00:05:22.170 on with five kings against four kings, but in 00:05:22.170 --> 00:05:25.470 the process his nephew Lot was taken captive 00:05:25.470 --> 00:05:28.430 with his family and all his possessions. Abraham 00:05:28.430 --> 00:05:30.790 supercharged and said, I got to do something 00:05:30.790 --> 00:05:34.290 about this. This is my son by adoption, but he 00:05:34.290 --> 00:05:36.350 had no children. God had promised him that he's 00:05:36.350 --> 00:05:38.230 gonna have all these children, remember? And 00:05:38.230 --> 00:05:41.370 he had none, but he considered Lot his adopted 00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:45.389 son because his brother died and he took responsibility 00:05:45.389 --> 00:05:47.850 for Lot. Now, Lot's an adult. He has a family 00:05:47.850 --> 00:05:51.069 of his own. But still, Abraham went with the 00:05:51.069 --> 00:05:54.269 people in his family, in his household. 318, 00:05:54.269 --> 00:05:57.569 I believe, of his servants were trained for battle. 00:05:57.689 --> 00:06:00.089 And they went up there where this war was going 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:02.470 on between these four and five kings. And he 00:06:02.470 --> 00:06:05.189 rescued his son Lot and all his possessions comes 00:06:05.189 --> 00:06:08.199 back. He's confronted with two different men. 00:06:08.339 --> 00:06:10.980 They seem like men. Both are kings. One is the 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:14.120 king of Salem and also the king of righteousness. 00:06:14.600 --> 00:06:19.000 Salam and Sadeq. Peace and righteousness. Who 00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:20.920 is this king? Well, his name is Melchizedek. 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:23.519 We read in the Bible about this Melchizedek both 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.360 in the Psalms and also in the book of Hebrews. 00:06:26.680 --> 00:06:30.519 And so he's referred to as either likened unto 00:06:30.519 --> 00:06:33.500 Jesus. Jesus is likened unto Melchizedek. or 00:06:33.500 --> 00:06:36.300 he's actually Jesus incarnate. It's called the 00:06:36.300 --> 00:06:39.600 Theophany, where Jesus appears in the Old Testament 00:06:39.600 --> 00:06:42.800 before the incarnation, which is Christmas. So 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:45.360 I have the tendency, and I do believe, that this 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.790 is an actual theophany, it's Jesus himself. He's 00:06:48.790 --> 00:06:51.230 met with Jesus, he approaches him with wine and 00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:54.170 bread, and he gives it to Abram to partake of, 00:06:54.250 --> 00:06:57.149 and it's a clear symbol of what we do when we 00:06:57.149 --> 00:07:00.129 celebrate Communion, and also the Passover. So 00:07:00.129 --> 00:07:02.990 here's Abram with this King of Righteousness, 00:07:03.069 --> 00:07:05.550 the King of Peace, and he gives him a tenth of 00:07:05.550 --> 00:07:08.009 all his possessions, and it's basically where 00:07:08.009 --> 00:07:11.410 we get the tithe from, but he had a lot of possessions 00:07:11.410 --> 00:07:14.670 at the time especially. So he gives it to him, 00:07:14.750 --> 00:07:17.310 generously, willingly, out of his heart, because 00:07:17.310 --> 00:07:19.949 he believes that this is more than a man he's 00:07:19.949 --> 00:07:22.529 talking to. And they have this relationship that 00:07:22.529 --> 00:07:26.089 begins. But then the kingdom Sodom shows up and 00:07:26.089 --> 00:07:29.689 he says to Abram, he said, regarding what just 00:07:29.689 --> 00:07:31.709 happened, he just rescued Lot in his possessions, 00:07:31.910 --> 00:07:34.410 he says to Abraham, you keep the possessions, 00:07:34.649 --> 00:07:37.189 the stuff, I want the people, that's the deal. 00:07:37.449 --> 00:07:40.259 And Abram says, no way. There's no way I'm going 00:07:40.259 --> 00:07:42.439 to give you anything. I wouldn't give you a thread 00:07:42.439 --> 00:07:45.939 off my shoelace. Lest you would say that you, 00:07:46.180 --> 00:07:49.500 the King of Sodom, made me rich. Which can't 00:07:49.500 --> 00:07:52.000 be. It's God. He attributes his whole life to 00:07:52.000 --> 00:07:56.240 God. And God has accredited his belief, his trust. 00:07:56.399 --> 00:07:59.079 as righteousness. Not what he's done to please 00:07:59.079 --> 00:08:01.480 God, not sacrifice or anything else, but just 00:08:01.480 --> 00:08:04.040 his humble nature before God to believe him. 00:08:04.060 --> 00:08:06.720 He says, that's all it takes. I accredit it to 00:08:06.720 --> 00:08:08.740 you for righteousness. Interesting, the New Testament 00:08:08.740 --> 00:08:11.199 speaks about Jesus becoming righteousness for 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:13.699 us, for those who believe. But this is the last 00:08:13.699 --> 00:08:16.899 thing that happens in chapter 14. And then chapter 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:20.579 15 opens up. It says that God appeared to Abram 00:08:20.579 --> 00:08:23.220 in a dream. in a vision, I'm sorry, and said, 00:08:23.500 --> 00:08:27.319 Abram, do not be afraid. I am your shield and 00:08:27.319 --> 00:08:30.420 exceedingly great reward. Now, we don't see Abram 00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:32.940 afraid. Why all of a sudden he's afraid? God 00:08:32.940 --> 00:08:35.980 sees this. He's afraid. And the reason is very 00:08:35.980 --> 00:08:38.720 clear. If we look back and see what did Abram 00:08:38.720 --> 00:08:41.480 just do? Now, I believe that the King of Sodom 00:08:41.480 --> 00:08:44.740 was not just the King of Sodom. If Jesus can 00:08:44.740 --> 00:08:47.799 have a theophany, then certainly the devil can 00:08:47.799 --> 00:08:50.259 have his own kind of, not theophany, but he's 00:08:50.259 --> 00:08:52.360 the God of this world. So, in a sense, with a 00:08:52.360 --> 00:08:54.840 little t, maybe we could say that, but he's certainly 00:08:54.840 --> 00:08:58.340 not God. But why couldn't he appear as a man? 00:08:58.519 --> 00:09:00.919 because we're told in the New Testament that, 00:09:00.919 --> 00:09:04.220 beware, that Satan appears as an angel of light, 00:09:04.379 --> 00:09:07.720 and when he says to entertain strangers, he said, 00:09:07.919 --> 00:09:10.000 because you might be entertaining angels unaware. 00:09:10.240 --> 00:09:12.559 So if angels could look like people, and Satan 00:09:12.559 --> 00:09:14.980 can become an angel of light, certainly he could 00:09:14.980 --> 00:09:19.200 appear before his time, so to speak, as a person 00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:22.070 that Abram just considered he was the King of 00:09:22.070 --> 00:09:23.909 Sodom. King of Sodom would have been bad enough. 00:09:24.110 --> 00:09:26.529 The guy was obviously demon -possessed. When 00:09:26.529 --> 00:09:29.669 we get to the activity that's going on, we learn 00:09:29.669 --> 00:09:33.129 that Sodom was a wicked place, and it was filled 00:09:33.129 --> 00:09:36.649 with evil, and that unfortunately was the land 00:09:36.649 --> 00:09:39.970 next to where Lot chose to live. So it's almost 00:09:39.970 --> 00:09:42.149 like you could say, well, he was right there 00:09:42.149 --> 00:09:44.549 on the edge of Sodom. He deserves to be taken, 00:09:44.570 --> 00:09:47.159 but he doesn't. not in Abraham's eyes, because 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:49.480 Abraham was called to be a blessing and that 00:09:49.480 --> 00:09:52.080 begins in your family. And so part of the blessing 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:55.279 is God's gonna mount what he needs to live life 00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.779 properly, which at that time was a large army 00:09:57.779 --> 00:09:59.720 and he had in his household. So he did what he 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:03.080 had to do, he rescues him, but now Satan, I believe, 00:10:03.120 --> 00:10:05.919 is the king of Sodom, king of evil, the king 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:09.379 of lies and injustice and thievery and cursing 00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:12.259 and everything wrong with this world is who Satan 00:10:12.259 --> 00:10:15.830 is. And Abraham had just spoken to him. He spoke 00:10:15.830 --> 00:10:18.730 to the forces of power. He spoke truth to him, 00:10:18.950 --> 00:10:22.129 that I will not take anything of yours. So Abram 00:10:22.129 --> 00:10:25.509 treasured the relationship he had with Lot, and 00:10:25.509 --> 00:10:27.850 he was not going to jeopardize that with this 00:10:27.850 --> 00:10:30.529 temptation to take all the stuff that Satan was 00:10:30.529 --> 00:10:34.110 offering, and he goes on, but then we see that 00:10:34.110 --> 00:10:36.610 he's afraid. And I think he started to consider 00:10:36.610 --> 00:10:39.490 these things, and with his own understanding 00:10:39.490 --> 00:10:42.769 he ended up being very afraid. And so God is 00:10:42.769 --> 00:10:46.320 trying to... revert him back to his state of 00:10:46.320 --> 00:10:49.320 belief, of faith, and telling him, do not be 00:10:49.320 --> 00:10:51.600 afraid. I am with you. I am your exceedingly 00:10:51.600 --> 00:10:53.879 great reward. You need nothing more, Abram, than 00:10:53.879 --> 00:10:56.960 me. And so that's how Chapter 15 begins. But 00:10:56.960 --> 00:10:59.659 then it goes on, it's an amazing chapter, because 00:10:59.659 --> 00:11:02.840 this is the chapter where God promises Abram 00:11:02.840 --> 00:11:06.940 all the land that is now Israel, and even more, 00:11:07.139 --> 00:11:09.860 much more, is going to be yours, Abram, and your 00:11:09.860 --> 00:11:13.019 descendants, meaning Isaac and Jacob forever. 00:11:13.279 --> 00:11:15.960 And you will have people, you have a generation 00:11:15.960 --> 00:11:19.000 after generation after generation of children 00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:21.480 that we, the Bible calls that seed, or Zerah 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:23.860 in Hebrew, that are going to be forever. Your 00:11:23.860 --> 00:11:25.539 people are going to be forever, the land is going 00:11:25.539 --> 00:11:28.000 to be your people's possession forever. This 00:11:28.000 --> 00:11:31.480 is a supercharged conversation going on between 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:34.620 God and Abram, and Satan is, there's nowhere 00:11:34.620 --> 00:11:37.990 to be seen except... when it's time to cut this 00:11:37.990 --> 00:11:40.990 covenant, and Abraham's told to lay out all these 00:11:40.990 --> 00:11:43.809 different animal parts and line them up together, 00:11:44.490 --> 00:11:47.309 and that typically in that culture, if they were 00:11:47.309 --> 00:11:49.330 going to cut covenant, they would both walk through 00:11:49.330 --> 00:11:52.250 this sacrifice while it was burning, and that 00:11:52.250 --> 00:11:54.769 was to signify that they both agreed to this 00:11:54.769 --> 00:11:57.029 covenant. If one of us breaks this covenant, 00:11:57.230 --> 00:11:59.269 let him be like the pieces of the sacrifice, 00:11:59.750 --> 00:12:02.159 which means they wouldn't exist anymore. But 00:12:02.159 --> 00:12:04.919 God puts Abraham to sleep, because this covenant 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:07.620 is way too big for Abraham to participate in. 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:10.600 He puts him to sleep, and through this sacrifice, 00:12:10.980 --> 00:12:13.860 this blazing torch walks through it and consumes 00:12:13.860 --> 00:12:16.460 the sacrifice. And that's just a picture of God. 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:18.500 He doesn't have to walk through it like we would 00:12:18.500 --> 00:12:20.980 see, humanly speaking. But that was symbolic 00:12:20.980 --> 00:12:24.220 of Him going through this sacrifice. It was made. 00:12:24.399 --> 00:12:27.740 It was cut. Hebrews 6 backs this all up, that 00:12:27.740 --> 00:12:30.100 these two things, that God cannot lie, He makes 00:12:30.100 --> 00:12:32.320 with the covenant, with the promise. This is 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:35.139 yours, Abraham. It's yours. So then Abraham, 00:12:35.320 --> 00:12:37.559 though, was told that before he was put to sleep, 00:12:37.799 --> 00:12:40.399 they had this dissension, this descending birds 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:44.039 of prey trying to eat the sacrifice, and Abraham, 00:12:44.159 --> 00:12:46.600 his position, his job, responsibility was to 00:12:46.600 --> 00:12:49.419 chase these birds of prey away. Now this is where 00:12:49.419 --> 00:12:52.460 the symbolism comes in. They were birds, but 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:54.820 they were symbolic and most likely possessed 00:12:54.820 --> 00:12:58.600 by demons, or they were demons themselves in 00:12:58.600 --> 00:13:02.000 bird form. and they inhabited, just like Satan 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:04.860 appeared as a serpent or a snake, these birds, 00:13:05.059 --> 00:13:08.379 these vultures, these birds of prey, tried to 00:13:08.379 --> 00:13:10.759 destroy what God was doing at the sacrifice, 00:13:10.980 --> 00:13:14.019 but Abram courageously chased them away, and 00:13:14.019 --> 00:13:16.779 the sacrifice went on, but Abram was put to sleep. 00:13:17.000 --> 00:13:19.360 And it said that dreadful terror came over him. 00:13:19.500 --> 00:13:22.360 It was like deep, deep darkness. So this is a 00:13:22.360 --> 00:13:25.840 spiritually charged moment, but it affects all 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:29.470 of church life. ever since, and it affects all 00:13:29.470 --> 00:13:32.649 of human life ever since. Because what is, where 00:13:32.649 --> 00:13:35.950 has the world's attention been ever since 1948, 00:13:36.350 --> 00:13:39.809 and prior to, before Israel was scattered, the 00:13:39.809 --> 00:13:42.070 Jews were scattered in the first century, up 00:13:42.070 --> 00:13:46.389 until 1948, when they became a nation, they were 00:13:46.389 --> 00:13:49.769 the center of commotion, at the very least, throughout 00:13:49.769 --> 00:13:53.570 time, but also the center of this Middle East 00:13:53.570 --> 00:13:56.690 war. turmoil that has never been solved, and 00:13:56.690 --> 00:13:59.490 still is not solved, by the way. But this is 00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:01.570 where all this is taking place, in this land 00:14:01.570 --> 00:14:04.029 that God has given him. So everything needs to 00:14:04.029 --> 00:14:06.169 be thought of, thought through, because God wrote 00:14:06.169 --> 00:14:08.990 this story, and it's for our benefits to understand 00:14:08.990 --> 00:14:11.830 it, because it's a spiritually charged story, 00:14:11.950 --> 00:14:15.269 and these two chapters are incredibly supercharged 00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:19.090 with spiritual darkness trying to interrupt God's 00:14:19.090 --> 00:14:22.200 will. break his will. As Jesus would call it, 00:14:22.340 --> 00:14:24.460 the word of God cannot be broken. So this is 00:14:24.460 --> 00:14:27.039 God's word. His prophecies, his promises, it's 00:14:27.039 --> 00:14:30.320 all God's word. It originates in him and Satan 00:14:30.320 --> 00:14:32.779 is trying all he has to disrupt it. We need to 00:14:32.779 --> 00:14:35.039 understand this. This is where the story starts. 00:14:35.399 --> 00:14:39.200 Genesis 12 is where God introduces Abram as the 00:14:39.200 --> 00:14:41.639 patriarch of the faith, the father of our faith. 00:14:41.799 --> 00:14:44.679 And if we bless Abraham and his descendants, 00:14:44.889 --> 00:14:47.690 God promises that we will be blessed, and that 00:14:47.690 --> 00:14:50.330 becomes our choice, meaning everyone. It doesn't 00:14:50.330 --> 00:14:52.350 mean you're a believer or not, but how do you 00:14:52.350 --> 00:14:54.549 bless him? That should be a question that every 00:14:54.549 --> 00:14:58.149 Christian asks himself. How do I bless Abraham's 00:14:58.149 --> 00:15:00.509 descendants? Because God said I've made him a 00:15:00.509 --> 00:15:02.370 blessing to be a blessing to all the families 00:15:02.370 --> 00:15:04.590 of the earth, and I want to be a part of that 00:15:04.590 --> 00:15:07.029 because this is where peace comes. This is where 00:15:07.029 --> 00:15:09.289 peace comes into the world through this blessing 00:15:09.289 --> 00:15:11.789 that has been given to the Jewish people beginning 00:15:11.789 --> 00:15:14.840 with Abraham, then Isaac and Jacob. So, I need 00:15:14.840 --> 00:15:18.379 to highlight really why we are even having this 00:15:18.379 --> 00:15:21.740 podcast as Comfort My People, because our vision 00:15:21.740 --> 00:15:26.379 is to share the love of Yeshua, Jesus, to the 00:15:26.379 --> 00:15:29.460 Jewish people in Israel and beyond. They have 00:15:29.460 --> 00:15:32.460 been without the Gospel for 2 ,000 years. They 00:15:32.460 --> 00:15:35.519 never have since the early Church. And the New 00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:37.740 Testament wasn't even written. It was in process 00:15:37.740 --> 00:15:40.580 because The Jewish believers were the disciples 00:15:40.580 --> 00:15:43.299 of Jesus and those who got saved immediately 00:15:43.299 --> 00:15:45.700 after Pentecost, three thousand once, another 00:15:45.700 --> 00:15:48.039 five thousand a few days later, and it kept growing. 00:15:48.200 --> 00:15:51.879 It was a Jewish church. It was all Jewish, until 00:15:51.879 --> 00:15:55.379 the Gentiles started hearing it and wanting in, 00:15:55.379 --> 00:15:57.860 and they were welcomed in. There was a big council 00:15:57.860 --> 00:16:01.279 in Acts 15, but the consensus was that bring 00:16:01.279 --> 00:16:02.860 these Gentiles in. If they want to get saved, 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:04.659 bring them in. This is what we're called to be, 00:16:04.820 --> 00:16:06.919 a light to the nations. This is what we are. 00:16:07.059 --> 00:16:09.120 We're being a light. to the nations in Hebrew 00:16:09.120 --> 00:16:12.879 is Goyim. That's Gentiles. Isaiah spoke, the 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:15.759 prophets spoke, and God promised through prophecy 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:17.600 in the beginning that He's going to make the 00:16:17.600 --> 00:16:20.120 two one. Who are the two one? It's not Adam and 00:16:20.120 --> 00:16:22.639 Eve because they were one, and He broke them 00:16:22.639 --> 00:16:25.679 up. They're supposed to, they will become one. 00:16:25.820 --> 00:16:29.019 spiritually as husband and wife, that's a prophecy 00:16:29.019 --> 00:16:31.679 too. But the greater sense of that prophecy is 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:34.460 that the two most unlikely groups of people, 00:16:34.799 --> 00:16:37.620 cultures and civilizations would merge as one, 00:16:37.919 --> 00:16:40.279 and that is Jew and Gentile. Much more to say, 00:16:40.519 --> 00:16:44.240 but this is one of the main focuses of Comfort 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.840 My People. So it began, our initial calling was 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.779 to bring the Gospel to the Jewish people in Israel 00:16:50.779 --> 00:16:54.080 and beyond through the indigenous believers that 00:16:54.080 --> 00:16:56.700 we support, we were to support them. And so our 00:16:56.700 --> 00:17:00.259 vision never changed, but it has expanded because 00:17:00.259 --> 00:17:02.340 there's so much confusion in the Church of what 00:17:02.340 --> 00:17:05.700 this means that we need to be able to inform 00:17:05.700 --> 00:17:09.660 biblically what it means to have this merge of 00:17:09.660 --> 00:17:12.200 unlikely people groups, Jew and Gentile, much 00:17:12.200 --> 00:17:15.099 to say about that. together as one, but God calls 00:17:15.099 --> 00:17:17.960 it His eternal purpose. And that's been missing 00:17:17.960 --> 00:17:21.700 in the conversation of Church education ever 00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:24.160 since the beginning. It began in the book of 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:28.299 Ephesians, literally it was initiated and spoken 00:17:28.299 --> 00:17:31.079 of, of the One New Man, the eternal purpose of 00:17:31.079 --> 00:17:34.380 God, His masterpiece. It's a manifold witness 00:17:34.589 --> 00:17:37.369 of the wisdom of God to the spiritual forces 00:17:37.369 --> 00:17:39.710 in darkness. That's what it was intended to be. 00:17:40.029 --> 00:17:43.009 Jew and Gentile combined make up the Church and 00:17:43.009 --> 00:17:46.269 they're a force against the darkness of this 00:17:46.269 --> 00:17:49.029 world. That's what God called us to be. So it 00:17:49.029 --> 00:17:51.390 didn't happen. But this portion of scripture 00:17:51.390 --> 00:17:53.849 I want to highlight because it's the beginning 00:17:53.849 --> 00:17:55.990 of our faith. If you call Abraham the father 00:17:55.990 --> 00:17:58.109 of your faith, I'm not talking to Muslims now, 00:17:58.130 --> 00:18:01.069 I'm talking about Christians and Jews who believe 00:18:01.069 --> 00:18:04.390 the Bible, not the Quran. that Abraham, Isaac, 00:18:04.450 --> 00:18:08.089 and Jacob are the fathers, plural, of our faith. 00:18:08.470 --> 00:18:12.549 So, that said, the thing that has been ignored 00:18:12.549 --> 00:18:15.069 needs to be come to the table, and this is why 00:18:15.069 --> 00:18:18.029 we're going to be leaning on the concept of the 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:21.130 One New Man consistently, because it's been either 00:18:21.130 --> 00:18:24.150 ignored, misunderstood, or avoided purposely, 00:18:24.390 --> 00:18:26.470 and this is the work of the enemy. It has to 00:18:26.470 --> 00:18:29.460 be broken. yet has to be broken and confronted. 00:18:29.759 --> 00:18:31.519 You've got to be courageous to do this, but God 00:18:31.519 --> 00:18:34.240 will give the courage to believe him in times 00:18:34.240 --> 00:18:36.640 of trouble, not to lean on our own unstanding, 00:18:37.019 --> 00:18:40.140 which is the tendency. We can't. So, by the way, 00:18:40.279 --> 00:18:42.940 this is a message that is not very welcomed. 00:18:43.019 --> 00:18:45.779 In fact, it's often challenged, and it's if we 00:18:45.779 --> 00:18:48.500 want to raise money to support our partners in 00:18:48.500 --> 00:18:50.559 Israel, this is the worst approach possible, 00:18:50.599 --> 00:18:53.519 because we are coming against what's been taught 00:18:53.519 --> 00:18:55.799 in the churches for way too long, is that God 00:18:55.799 --> 00:18:57.940 is done with the Jews, the church has replaced 00:18:57.940 --> 00:19:00.319 it, the Jews are not the same Jews in the Bible, 00:19:00.619 --> 00:19:03.220 Israel's not the same Israel in the Bible, and 00:19:03.220 --> 00:19:06.140 the church has become symbolically and spiritually 00:19:06.140 --> 00:19:09.980 Israel and the Jews. That's a false teaching, 00:19:10.220 --> 00:19:13.480 but yet it continues to be taught, and it's way 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:17.980 too widespread. So we are here to extend the 00:19:17.980 --> 00:19:20.539 Abrahamic blessing so that all the families of 00:19:20.539 --> 00:19:22.839 the earth will receive the gospel. That is the 00:19:22.839 --> 00:19:25.299 blessing. That's the heart of the blessing. Yeshua 00:19:25.299 --> 00:19:28.559 died so that blessing that could be for all mankind, 00:19:28.799 --> 00:19:31.339 but it has to be spread properly. I want to give 00:19:31.339 --> 00:19:34.240 you an example, and we're going to go on with 00:19:34.240 --> 00:19:38.809 this perspective into our next podcast which 00:19:38.809 --> 00:19:41.710 will be about Revelation chapter 12. So you might 00:19:41.710 --> 00:19:43.869 want to read that in the process if you're following 00:19:43.869 --> 00:19:46.730 us because it's actually a Christmas scene. It 00:19:46.730 --> 00:19:49.269 starts out with this Christmas scene and I didn't 00:19:49.269 --> 00:19:52.069 want to talk about it prior to Christmas or even 00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:54.470 now because Christmas is close behind and we 00:19:54.470 --> 00:19:57.650 want to keep that light -headed spirit and atmosphere 00:19:57.650 --> 00:19:59.730 going. But we're going to talk to it next week 00:19:59.730 --> 00:20:03.630 because it too is an untaught portion of scripture 00:20:03.630 --> 00:20:06.230 and it needs to be understood. But right now 00:20:06.230 --> 00:20:09.069 I want to give you an illustration. It's a real 00:20:09.069 --> 00:20:13.329 -life experience because it began on, to me the 00:20:13.329 --> 00:20:17.630 story began on Christmas Eve 2004. My father 00:20:17.630 --> 00:20:20.549 died. Before that though I need to speak about 00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:23.029 him because this is going to tie together, I 00:20:23.029 --> 00:20:25.609 hope you'll see what I'm getting at, is that 00:20:25.609 --> 00:20:29.509 my father was born in Belarus to a very poor 00:20:29.509 --> 00:20:33.089 Jewish family and He was the last child, but 00:20:33.089 --> 00:20:35.490 he was a twin. He had a sister, but there was 00:20:35.490 --> 00:20:37.990 one boy, the oldest son. He was the only son 00:20:37.990 --> 00:20:40.210 at the time. He died when he was five, and my 00:20:40.210 --> 00:20:43.150 father was born not long after that. So they 00:20:43.150 --> 00:20:45.589 lived in poverty. My grandfather, his father, 00:20:45.849 --> 00:20:49.829 was a prisoner of war in Russia, in prison, prison 00:20:49.829 --> 00:20:54.509 war camp. And he did not leave Belarus where 00:20:54.509 --> 00:20:56.769 they lived. They were being assaulted like on 00:20:56.769 --> 00:20:59.670 a constant basis from pogroms coming out of Russia. 00:20:59.869 --> 00:21:02.809 especially, but also Poland. And so they fled, 00:21:03.309 --> 00:21:06.130 but my grandfather was still in prison. He followed 00:21:06.130 --> 00:21:08.769 maybe three years later. So my father grew up, 00:21:09.069 --> 00:21:12.210 they made it to New York. My father was young, 00:21:12.470 --> 00:21:14.609 but he started selling peanuts on the street 00:21:14.609 --> 00:21:17.250 because they needed to have money and buy food 00:21:17.250 --> 00:21:20.430 on the table. So he learned to be not a tough 00:21:20.430 --> 00:21:22.690 guy, but he learned to be resilient. He learned 00:21:22.690 --> 00:21:25.769 to be a hard worker and he had great common sense. 00:21:25.950 --> 00:21:28.509 But he also knew that the persecution that they 00:21:28.509 --> 00:21:31.849 had faced and continued to face was mostly coming 00:21:31.849 --> 00:21:34.190 from so -called Christians, people who called 00:21:34.190 --> 00:21:36.109 themselves Christians. It was the only Christians 00:21:36.109 --> 00:21:38.930 they knew. Let me put it that way. So Jesus was 00:21:38.930 --> 00:21:41.250 a curse word because they were considered, not 00:21:41.250 --> 00:21:44.089 that they cursed Jesus, but they were considered 00:21:44.089 --> 00:21:47.430 to be murderers of Jesus. The Jews killed Christ. 00:21:47.589 --> 00:21:49.430 It was common knowledge throughout Europe and 00:21:49.430 --> 00:21:52.990 Russia and that's what Christians lived by. So 00:21:52.990 --> 00:21:55.950 my father grew up in that atmosphere and he had 00:21:55.950 --> 00:21:59.130 experienced anti -semitism firsthand, even in 00:21:59.130 --> 00:22:02.349 their own homes. So they left, they fled. So 00:22:02.349 --> 00:22:04.829 my father, he never went to college. I'm not 00:22:04.829 --> 00:22:06.809 sure if he even graduated high school, but he 00:22:06.809 --> 00:22:10.349 had common sense, a lot of it. And he did what 00:22:10.349 --> 00:22:13.430 he had to do just as a child. His childhood was 00:22:13.430 --> 00:22:15.869 kind of abrupted because he had to earn a living 00:22:15.869 --> 00:22:18.210 selling peanuts until he was chased away by cops 00:22:18.210 --> 00:22:21.769 because he had no license. But in 1940, he was 00:22:21.769 --> 00:22:24.950 drafted into the Army. And the branch he was 00:22:24.950 --> 00:22:26.910 in was the Calvary. He was in the 5th Calvary. 00:22:27.309 --> 00:22:31.950 And he became a staff sergeant in charge of an 00:22:31.950 --> 00:22:34.750 artillery platoon. They had 50 caliber rifles, 00:22:34.769 --> 00:22:37.630 50 millimeter machine guns, I mean, big, big 00:22:37.630 --> 00:22:41.039 guns. and very loud, and so he was in charge 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.339 of this platoon that was operating that way, 00:22:43.559 --> 00:22:46.240 infantry in the Far East, in the Philippines. 00:22:46.740 --> 00:22:50.740 So he saw a lot, a lot, and he never would talk 00:22:50.740 --> 00:22:53.220 about his experience. I knew, you know, all the 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:55.440 details of where he was and when he was, but 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.680 he wouldn't talk about any episodes, day -to 00:22:57.680 --> 00:23:00.380 -day things. I asked him, though, why did you 00:23:00.380 --> 00:23:03.099 change your name? His name was, his birth name 00:23:03.099 --> 00:23:05.700 was Rabinowitz, and he changed it to Robbins, 00:23:06.039 --> 00:23:08.940 and All they told me is that I changed it because 00:23:08.940 --> 00:23:11.559 I didn't want my children to fight for their 00:23:11.559 --> 00:23:13.440 name, just because of their name, because that 00:23:13.440 --> 00:23:15.299 meant that they were Jews and it was a Jewish 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:18.880 name. So I wanted to somehow avoid that and changed 00:23:18.880 --> 00:23:21.700 it, made it simpler. And when they came over 00:23:21.700 --> 00:23:23.799 to Ellis Island, his father didn't change it. 00:23:23.839 --> 00:23:26.079 He changed it when he came out of the army in 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:29.099 the 40s, 1945. But it never worked. He wanted 00:23:29.099 --> 00:23:31.099 that to happen, but it never worked because I 00:23:31.099 --> 00:23:33.579 ended up, when I grew up, fighting because I 00:23:33.579 --> 00:23:36.019 was a Jew. And because, you know what, anti -Semites 00:23:36.019 --> 00:23:38.259 know Jews. Piddler asked Hitler, he knew where 00:23:38.259 --> 00:23:40.700 a Jew was, you know, he could send some miles 00:23:40.700 --> 00:23:43.920 away. But, nevertheless, anti -Semitism he was 00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:48.220 very familiar with. So, when I was 29, I came 00:23:48.220 --> 00:23:50.519 to faith in Jesus. I'd like to tell that story, 00:23:50.700 --> 00:23:53.259 but I'll stop there. I came to faith, as far 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:56.160 as details go, and the first person I wanted 00:23:56.160 --> 00:23:58.859 to tell was my father. Because I knew he had 00:23:58.859 --> 00:24:01.900 a troubled life, and I knew that Jesus was a 00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:04.000 mystery to him, as it was to me. because no one 00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:05.900 ever shared the gospel with me. I thought Jesus 00:24:05.900 --> 00:24:08.900 was Catholic, actually. And so when I got this 00:24:08.900 --> 00:24:11.059 information, when it came real to me that Jesus 00:24:11.059 --> 00:24:13.859 was real, He was God, He was incarnate. I was 00:24:13.859 --> 00:24:15.660 born again. I knew that. I didn't know the terms 00:24:15.660 --> 00:24:18.519 or anything. But when I first got saved, I made 00:24:18.519 --> 00:24:21.480 it to His house. It was hard because I had a 00:24:21.480 --> 00:24:23.240 hitchhike there and it was night and our car 00:24:23.240 --> 00:24:25.140 didn't work and stuff, but I needed to tell Him 00:24:25.140 --> 00:24:27.519 as fast as I could and I did. So my wife and 00:24:27.519 --> 00:24:30.640 I had already started meeting Christians because 00:24:30.640 --> 00:24:32.640 our neighbor said we should go to this church 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:34.440 and we did and we started meeting real Christians 00:24:34.440 --> 00:24:36.980 who loved the Jews and Jewish people and I get 00:24:36.980 --> 00:24:39.160 my father alone. He's in the basement. We're 00:24:39.160 --> 00:24:40.839 talking. I'm telling him, Dad, I got to tell 00:24:40.839 --> 00:24:42.539 you about Jesus. I came to faith in him. He's 00:24:42.539 --> 00:24:44.960 like, what? What are you talking about? And so 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:47.339 I started to explain to him and I met these Christians. 00:24:47.640 --> 00:24:50.519 They love Jews and they love Israel. He goes, 00:24:50.700 --> 00:24:53.220 Paul, Paul, let me tell you something. If you 00:24:53.220 --> 00:24:56.680 scratch a Gentile deep enough, they will bleed 00:24:56.680 --> 00:24:59.059 anti -Semitism. I don't care what they say now, 00:24:59.079 --> 00:25:01.480 how they act, you gotta get smart here. And I'm 00:25:01.480 --> 00:25:03.279 like, no dad, these people are the real deal. 00:25:03.819 --> 00:25:06.380 So that was the foundation of my conversation 00:25:06.380 --> 00:25:09.519 with him. Many, many, many times he and I would 00:25:09.519 --> 00:25:13.799 meet for lunch in a diner in New York and I would 00:25:13.799 --> 00:25:15.819 talk to him. I would ask him if we could meet 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:18.519 and he would and he liked, you know, to talk. 00:25:18.650 --> 00:25:20.569 And I would explain to him what I believe. Now, 00:25:20.589 --> 00:25:22.670 he was an atheist. He was the only real atheist 00:25:22.670 --> 00:25:25.970 I knew because his atheism came from he couldn't 00:25:25.970 --> 00:25:27.869 believe there could be a God. It's not that he 00:25:27.869 --> 00:25:29.930 chose not to believe in God. He couldn't believe 00:25:29.930 --> 00:25:31.710 there could be a God because of all the evil 00:25:31.710 --> 00:25:34.190 in the world. And he and his family had experienced 00:25:34.190 --> 00:25:37.170 it personally. So I had to convince him that 00:25:37.170 --> 00:25:39.150 number one, there is a God, and number two, that 00:25:39.150 --> 00:25:42.829 Jesus is God. And so we would sit in this diner, 00:25:42.869 --> 00:25:45.400 one after the other, and then... share the gospel, 00:25:45.519 --> 00:25:47.140 and then have coffee, and then have more coffee, 00:25:47.319 --> 00:25:49.779 and I'd share, but I'd start from Abraham, and 00:25:49.779 --> 00:25:51.839 I'd start from Genesis, and I'd go all the way 00:25:51.839 --> 00:25:54.619 through into the New Testament, and almost every 00:25:54.619 --> 00:25:57.160 time he'd use these words, Paul, I'm glad this 00:25:57.160 --> 00:25:59.660 makes you happy, but come back when I'm 80, and 00:25:59.660 --> 00:26:01.559 maybe I'll think about it, but it's not for me. 00:26:01.640 --> 00:26:04.240 And he'd end there, and we'd go to our cars, 00:26:04.420 --> 00:26:06.980 and I'd feel so spiritually drained that sometimes 00:26:06.980 --> 00:26:09.299 I couldn't even stand up or walk, and I had to 00:26:09.299 --> 00:26:11.779 wait for him to leave, actually. One time I actually 00:26:11.779 --> 00:26:15.430 fell to my... buckled over, spiritually drained. 00:26:15.809 --> 00:26:19.250 And so this went on for so long. But fast forward 00:26:19.250 --> 00:26:24.109 way into the future. He's in his 80s and he has 00:26:24.109 --> 00:26:28.390 contracted a disease called atypical Parkinson's 00:26:28.390 --> 00:26:30.329 and he had it for nine years. My mother died 00:26:30.329 --> 00:26:32.250 a few years later. He came down with this and 00:26:32.250 --> 00:26:36.069 he what it did is it shut down every muscle system 00:26:36.069 --> 00:26:39.410 in his body one by one to the point where he 00:26:39.410 --> 00:26:41.470 couldn't do anything. He was he was constrained 00:26:41.470 --> 00:26:46.019 to a bed. in a veteran's home in New York. And 00:26:46.019 --> 00:26:48.960 yeah, he just couldn't do anything. He couldn't 00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:51.039 even read the paper, which he loved to read the 00:26:51.039 --> 00:26:53.920 paper, or watch TV. He couldn't lift up his head. 00:26:54.660 --> 00:26:57.460 Everything had to be done for him. So prior to 00:26:57.460 --> 00:27:01.579 this, I had made a board called an alphabet board 00:27:01.579 --> 00:27:04.859 that was made out of wood. And I had put all 00:27:04.859 --> 00:27:07.390 the letters of the alphabet along with questions 00:27:07.390 --> 00:27:10.289 for the nurses so that he wouldn't have to struggle 00:27:10.289 --> 00:27:12.150 trying to communicate because he couldn't. He 00:27:12.150 --> 00:27:14.750 kept getting worse that, you know, I'm hungry, 00:27:15.170 --> 00:27:17.250 I'm thirsty, I need to go to the bathroom. And 00:27:17.250 --> 00:27:18.730 then there was an alphabet he could point to 00:27:18.730 --> 00:27:20.990 the letters, things like that. And he could do 00:27:20.990 --> 00:27:23.630 that for for a couple of years or a few years 00:27:23.630 --> 00:27:26.829 he did well but as his muscle systems broke down 00:27:26.829 --> 00:27:29.710 he could no longer do that. So we had moved by 00:27:29.710 --> 00:27:32.250 that time about eight nine hours away from where 00:27:32.250 --> 00:27:34.549 he lived in New York and it was coming up to 00:27:34.549 --> 00:27:36.750 Father's Day and I felt compelled to go to see 00:27:36.750 --> 00:27:39.569 him. I had to go and so I told my wife we got 00:27:39.569 --> 00:27:41.349 to go it's from the Father's Day we got to be 00:27:41.349 --> 00:27:43.769 there and so it was a long journey but we got 00:27:43.769 --> 00:27:46.779 there. and made it for Father's Day. And the 00:27:46.779 --> 00:27:49.579 reason I had to go because I was consumed, what 00:27:49.579 --> 00:27:51.839 does my father think about? Because he had rejected 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.579 Jesus for so many years now, 30. And I said, 00:27:54.839 --> 00:27:56.420 what does he think about? Because I know he's 00:27:56.420 --> 00:27:58.140 got bad thoughts and this is all he's left with. 00:27:58.259 --> 00:28:00.680 He can't do anything else. So I tell him this. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:02.819 I said, Dad, I need to know what you're thinking 00:28:02.819 --> 00:28:04.700 about." And it was a crazy thing to ask him because 00:28:04.700 --> 00:28:06.599 he couldn't answer me, but I felt I had to ask 00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:09.619 him. So with his big eyes, he starts moving because 00:28:09.619 --> 00:28:11.900 he can't speak, he can't point his eyes towards 00:28:11.900 --> 00:28:14.079 the corner of the room. And I go to the corner 00:28:14.079 --> 00:28:16.559 of the room and there's nothing there except 00:28:16.559 --> 00:28:19.400 medical equipment on a table that the nurses 00:28:19.400 --> 00:28:22.440 kept. And so I'm moving through everything on 00:28:22.440 --> 00:28:24.259 the table to find something. I don't see anything 00:28:24.259 --> 00:28:25.740 that he could be talking about. What is he talking 00:28:25.740 --> 00:28:27.319 about? I come back. I say, I got nothing, Dad. 00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:30.700 With his eyes again, Go, go again. So I go back 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:33.339 there and I see this alphabet board was buried 00:28:33.339 --> 00:28:35.559 underneath the stuff. And I say, he can't mean 00:28:35.559 --> 00:28:39.299 this. And I bring it over there and he opens 00:28:39.299 --> 00:28:41.279 his eyes wide and he says, yeah, you know, like 00:28:41.279 --> 00:28:43.200 he's telling me, yes, yes. And I'm like, this 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:45.319 is going to be the most frustrating experience. 00:28:45.480 --> 00:28:48.220 And so I put it on his lap. I didn't have a pointer, 00:28:48.279 --> 00:28:51.359 so I sort of drilled the pencil through his fist 00:28:51.359 --> 00:28:53.799 because it was so tightly closed. So a point 00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:56.140 would come out the end and right away he begins 00:28:56.140 --> 00:29:02.400 to point and he does this. E S U S and then he 00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:04.980 looks at me puts his hand down and I'm telling 00:29:04.980 --> 00:29:07.440 you something he hit bullseye on each one of 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.660 those letters and if my wife was not there with 00:29:09.660 --> 00:29:11.960 me no one would believe this and we looked at 00:29:11.960 --> 00:29:14.059 each other like are you kidding me and I said 00:29:14.059 --> 00:29:16.200 dad you've been thinking about Jesus and he goes 00:29:16.200 --> 00:29:19.500 yes with his eyes and I said does that mean you 00:29:19.500 --> 00:29:22.240 want to receive him because I'd spoken so much 00:29:22.240 --> 00:29:25.440 about him and he gives me these yes eyes so we 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:28.130 led him to faith now Some people say, well, you 00:29:28.130 --> 00:29:29.829 know, he's dying and all. Well, he lived for 00:29:29.829 --> 00:29:33.049 another six months. And that's when he died on 00:29:33.049 --> 00:29:36.289 Christmas Eve. And there was reasons for me to 00:29:36.289 --> 00:29:38.970 tell, which I can't with this time, that to believe 00:29:38.970 --> 00:29:42.170 that he was definitely a believer. So when Christmas 00:29:42.170 --> 00:29:44.769 Eve came, that's by the way that he died the 00:29:44.769 --> 00:29:48.210 next day, a day later was the worst tsunami that 00:29:48.210 --> 00:29:51.609 ever hit the face of the earth. And 200 and some 00:29:51.609 --> 00:29:54.569 odd thousand people died from in that process 00:29:54.569 --> 00:29:58.529 of the tsunami in Indonesia and beyond. And that's 00:29:58.529 --> 00:30:01.230 almost the same amount of combat soldiers that 00:30:01.230 --> 00:30:04.309 died in World War II. So that's how intense this 00:30:04.309 --> 00:30:06.769 spiritual atmosphere was in my life that he died 00:30:06.769 --> 00:30:09.470 and right after that was this incredible tsunami. 00:30:09.730 --> 00:30:12.349 And I'm not saying one caused the other or anything 00:30:12.349 --> 00:30:15.509 like that, but it's just the electrically charged 00:30:15.509 --> 00:30:18.250 spiritual atmosphere. And here's why I'm saying 00:30:18.250 --> 00:30:21.079 that. Because My father did not believe. He didn't 00:30:21.079 --> 00:30:23.140 believe what I said. No matter what I said with 00:30:23.140 --> 00:30:26.759 the Bible, he never accepted. But I brought my 00:30:26.759 --> 00:30:29.000 friends with... Now, I'm a contractor at the 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.339 time. And where he worked, they needed some work. 00:30:31.440 --> 00:30:34.599 And they hired me for specific jobs, projects, 00:30:34.839 --> 00:30:37.240 to do the carpentry and building and renovation 00:30:37.240 --> 00:30:39.319 stuff. And I would bring my friends with me who 00:30:39.319 --> 00:30:40.880 were all believers. They were Christians. They 00:30:40.880 --> 00:30:43.900 were Gentiles. And my father loved them. They 00:30:43.900 --> 00:30:46.319 were so kind to him. They were loving to him. 00:30:46.490 --> 00:30:49.390 and they would share Jesus the Messiah in a very 00:30:49.390 --> 00:30:53.450 careful way because they knew based on me instructing 00:30:53.450 --> 00:30:56.230 them about things that's so different about the 00:30:56.230 --> 00:30:58.670 Jews and their relationship to Jesus. And they 00:30:58.670 --> 00:31:00.809 were so careful but so kind and loving and we 00:31:00.809 --> 00:31:02.990 got along. He saw the love that we had for each 00:31:02.990 --> 00:31:06.049 other. And I believe that is what brought him 00:31:06.049 --> 00:31:08.930 to faith. And so this is what I want you to consider 00:31:08.930 --> 00:31:12.390 because this is the biblical way of doing things 00:31:12.390 --> 00:31:15.200 when it comes to the Jews. Speak comfort to them. 00:31:15.460 --> 00:31:18.019 Isaiah 40 verse 1 and 2. Please read that over 00:31:18.019 --> 00:31:20.359 a hundred times till you understand what it means. 00:31:20.900 --> 00:31:23.119 Isaiah 40 verse 1 and 2. This is where we get 00:31:23.119 --> 00:31:26.059 our name. Comfort my people. But above all things, 00:31:26.180 --> 00:31:28.619 I want to leave you with that when you do believe, 00:31:28.779 --> 00:31:30.980 when you do trust completely, the word of God 00:31:30.980 --> 00:31:33.539 becomes alive to you. When you apply the word 00:31:33.539 --> 00:31:36.240 of God to your relationship, not just with God, 00:31:36.420 --> 00:31:39.000 but with his people, who he initially called 00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:40.700 his chosen people. It doesn't mean Christians 00:31:40.700 --> 00:31:43.309 are not chosen. But the Jews were the chosen 00:31:43.309 --> 00:31:46.329 people, and they were chosen for a purpose, which 00:31:46.329 --> 00:31:49.349 is to bring the blessing of Abraham, which is 00:31:49.349 --> 00:31:53.170 a message of peace, joy, and spiritual life that 00:31:53.170 --> 00:31:56.369 will be a force that the enemy cannot stand against. 00:31:56.609 --> 00:31:59.569 This is where we need to head as believers, and 00:31:59.569 --> 00:32:01.849 this is where our emphasis is going to be throughout 00:32:01.849 --> 00:32:07.130 this journey from Jacob. Shalom, shalom. We bless 00:32:07.130 --> 00:32:09.930 you for taking the time to consider this message. 00:32:10.490 --> 00:32:12.789 May it cause you to be fruitful and effective 00:32:12.789 --> 00:32:15.470 and lead others along the way with confidence 00:32:15.470 --> 00:32:19.630 and determination. Check out our website at comfortmypeople 00:32:19.630 --> 00:32:23.289 .com to become better informed and equipped to 00:32:23.289 --> 00:32:25.750 restore righteousness to the people of Israel, 00:32:25.930 --> 00:32:29.630 America and beyond. Please consider sharing this 00:32:29.630 --> 00:32:33.529 and visit us on social media. Shalom and blessings.